According to reports, the Federal Trade Commission is investigating
whether Google-owned YouTube has violated the Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA). Several complaints sparked the investigation alleging that YouTube knowingly collected data on and pushed ads to children
younger than 13. Additionally, child activists are concerned that
disturbing videos can get past children’s filters and that its algorithm
creates communities of people looking for videos that sexualize children.
Many proposals have been thrown out there. Advocacy groups have suggested moving all kids’ content from
the main site to a stand-alone children’s platform. However, an anonymous source
says the FTC may be considering suggesting that individual channels instead
disable advertising.
However, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and
the Center for Digital Democracy wrote in a letter that it wasn’t clear whether
disabling the presentation of ads would stop data collection. Furthermore, video
creators might push back about this solution because it could likely harm their
revenue. One research group estimates that $750 million of YouTube’s annual
revenue comes from content directed at children.
One Senator, Virginia’s Mark Warner, said that a settlement
focused on disabling ads would be “out of touch with how platforms operate, and
would shift the burden to content creators rather than imposing it on YouTube
itself.”
Advocates are also calling for YouTube to pay fines which
could be hefty. Earlier this year, Musical.ly (aka TikTok) paid
$5.7 million in fines for violations of COPPA, in a case referred to the
FTC by CARU.